The United Arab Emirates is a Middle Eastern federation of seven Emirates, situated at the crossroads of Africa, Europe and Asia. Different Emirates had distinct genetics signatures matching the geographical position of the Emirates across the country. 'The Middle East is relatively understudied when it comes to population genetic studies, despite being home to over 460 million people. The unique population history of the United Arab Emirates makes it a good site to understand the genetics of this region, helping reduce health disparities and promote genomics-driven precision medicine through a deeper understanding of population-specific genetic variation.' The full paper, 'Fine-scale genetic structure in the United Arab Emirates reflects endogamous and consanguineous culture, population history and geography', can be read in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution.
